Last days; last chance at Northern PC

With nearly one month left for the expiration of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), a group of ten councillors left for Hyderabad, India yesterday to take part in a week long workshop supported by the Asia Foundation.

However, the Indian High Commission in Colombo had rejected visa application of one of the selected participants, M.K. Shivajilingam, the outspoken pro-LTTE councillor. The province’s Agriculture Minister, K. Sivanesan cancelled his trip at the last minute due to an ongoing legal battle involving Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran and another Minister.

With the exception of Shivajilingam, all other councillors hold official Sri Lankan passports. Therefore, they can secure a visa on arrival in India. Councilor Shivajilingam who holds a normal passport lamented to his friends that the IHC in Colombo rejected his entry visa application but granted a visa for Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) leader Douglas Devananda to accompany an official delegation led by the Speaker even though he is implicated in a 28-yearold murder case in the Chennai courts.

Militant turned politician Devananda was among the ten accused and non-bailable warrants were issued to arrest them decades ago. He testified through video conferencing at the IHC in Colombo over a shootout incident at Choolaimedu in Chennai some years back.

He himself has survived several attempts on his life by the LTTE and is now a mainstream politician in the North.